Catering head guilty of expenses fiddle

John Davis, former head of catering at Shropshire County Council, has pleaded guilty to 12 charges of obtaining property by deception.

Davis, also the former head of the Local Authority Caterers Association (LACA), admitted fiddling his expenses to claim more than £900 over a period of two years.

Shrewsbury magistrates were told how he duplicated expense forms and claimed cash for trips he never made as general manager of catering and cleaning for the council and as chair of LACA.

Mark Linkins, prosecuting, said Davis made £834 from the council and £110 from the association.

He made fake claims to the council by duplicating legitimate expense requests he had already made to the association. He also made claims for visits to places such as schools which had not taken place.

Davis was given 150 hours' community service and ordered to pay £75 costs.

Robin Onions, for Davis, said his client had been "administratively inept" but that he had paid back the money. He said the case had "hung over his client".

Davis left the council in July 1998 to join contract catering firm Martins of Oswestry. But he resigned from Martins three months later.

by Vik Iyer